The all but certain departure of Colorado education chief Dwight Jones is a loss for the state, but it also opens up an opportunity for debate about the future of the state’s K-12 system.
Jones had great success when he was superintendent of Falcon-Fort Carson schools, so it’s obvious why he was an attractive candidate to head Las Vegas schools.
The State Board of Education should consider a reformer like Jones as his replacement.
However, we think they should wait to hire anyone until a new board is set after the November elections, and we hope choosing the next commissioner becomes a part of the debate surrounding those sometimes overlooked down-ticket races.
Choosing a new education commissioner before the new board is seated would be a mistake.
The state board and the chief of the Education Department need to be on the same page when it comes to education policy.
Ultimately, we hope the new board will continue to push for reforms.
In August, the state board supported, on a 4-3 vote, the adoption of national standards for math and language arts. Opponents said the standards would lead to a nationally imposed curriculum and would undercut state and local control over education.
We reject that argument. The Common Core State Standards, created by a consortium of states, broadly outlines what students ought to learn. But it leaves it up to the states and districts to decide how to teach those elements to children and what materials to use.
A common set of standards allows comparisons to be made among state achievement scores and instructional methods.
It is but one of the steps forward the state board has made. Another is the creation of a cutting-edge, statewide data system that will enable educators to precisely track the progress of individual students as they advance through the state system, from preschool through college graduation.
And yet another was the board’s decision to support a teacher tenure reform framework that calls for educators to be evaluated, in part, on the academic progress of their students.
These are just a few encouraging steps that State Board of Education members have supported, and we hope they continue to do so in the future.
As the November elections approach, we hope voters will take the time to discern which of the board candidates would support continued reform, and then support those candidates when it’s time to cast their ballots.
